Los Banos’ Creekside Junior High had never hosted the Westside Athletic League wrestling tournament, but the school has won a league title or two.
On Saturday, the Creekside Cougars made it three WSAL crowns in the past four years after racking up 235 points.
“We get ’em going; we get ’em interested,” Creekside coach Eric Jacobo said about building his program. “It’s a team sport, but it’s you against someone else. You get your hand raised (in victory) or maybe not, but you come back to get better and get your hand raised.”
A whopping seven Cougars had their hands raised in ultimate triumph Saturday.
Francisco Magana at 100 pounds led Creekside to four consecutive championship match victories that included Frank Fernandez at 103s, Julian Rodriguez at 108s and Noah Buenrostro at 112s. A few matches later AJ Vargas won at 128s and Angel Solano at 135s made it back to back titles, and Christian Mena capped things off for the Cougars at 205s.
“A couple kids surprised me,” Jacobo said. “Noah Buenrostro made it to the finals. From where he was last year it wasn’t expected. And I wasn’t expecting Angel Solano to finish first, either.”
Just missing out on titles were Aiden Espino at 83 pounds and Adilynn Jacobo at 122s.
“It’s not very often girls get in the finals,” Coach Jacobo said of his daughter, Adilynn, who lost in the finals to Bryant Middle School’s Eli Van Worth, “but she had tacos with (Eli and the Dos Palos wrestlers) after.”
Taking home third place medals were Sebastian Rivera at 95s, Landon Bell at 142s and Tristian Freitas at 153s for the Cougars.
“It was chaotic making sure everything went well and making sure we had enough volunteers,” said Creekside athletic director Damian Kennedy, who put on the 10-team tournament across town at Pacheco High School. “It was a long day, but rewarding.”
Coming in second place was Bryant Middle School with 192.5 points.
“All of our guys have come a long way,” Bobcats coach Sammy Galindo said. “Usually we maybe take about 4 or 5 to the finals. This year we took 8.”
Cameron Johnson at 83 pounds joined Van Worth with finishes at the top of the podium for the Dos Palos side.
Earning runner-up finishes were Ali Albusaisi (70 pounds), Jeremiah Lemus (76), Hadley Wooten (100), Alexander Corchado (112), Leandro Salazar (168) and Aden Shelly (235). Stratten Wooten (103) and Issac Hinojosa (185) also earned bronze medals for Bryant.
Los Banos Junior High rounded out the top 3 teams with 157 points as Manny Flores and Spencer Rhodas led the way for the Tigers with titles as 185s and 235s, respectively. Camilo Macias (89), Alex Mendoza (116), Adrian Vasquez (135), Jayden Cortez (153) and Elvis Arzate (205) took home second for Los Banos. Adonis Morales finished third at 122s for the Tigers.
For Firebaugh, Emmanuel Martin likely surprised everyone else but his coach after winning it all at 142s.
“He used to go 100 miles per hour and give 110% in the first period of the match,” Firebaugh coach Jason Ben said of Martin, who entered as the No. 7 seeded wrestler at his weight. “But he essentially learned not to use his energy in the first period of the match and save it for all three periods.”
Jordan Arambula (108) and William Pineda (116) took home third-place finishes for the Falcons.
A glitch in the Matrix: In last week’s edition of The Westside Express it should have said that Aden Shelly was trailing 10-8 when getting a 3-point takedown in the finals seconds for an 11-10 victory.
